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Pipe Trouble’s government woes highlight gaming illiteracy

Interesting discussion of a political hoopla surrounding a Canadian provincial TV station’s support of a video game on laying an oil pipeline. In a previous job, I was evaluated by people who asked me to submit printouts of my online work; my printouts were then evaluated according to criteria that were developed for print work. [...]

Academia | Books | Business | Current_Events | Cyberculture | Design | Ethics | Literacy | Media | Social_Software | Technology | Writing

Real college classes have writing assignments and required reading.

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While I can imagine teaching a course that intersects with the interests of a wide, non academic audience, a series of free, optional online public lectures would be great public service, but not great teaching.

I’m sorry if this bursts anyone’s bubble, but watching videos on the Internet and maybe writing a few very short [...]

Business | Culture | Current_Events | Essays | Ethics | Humanities | Politics

America is raising a generation of interns – The Week

After hearing these numbers, I began to understand why Jessica felt lucky. Maybe she is fortunate to be earning $4.35 an hour at her ivory-tower job while she works nights and weekends as a waitress. Maybe a 10-month paid internship followed by graduate school and then perhaps another internship is the new lucky, particularly at [...]

Academia | Amusing | Culture | Current_Events | Design | Education | Ethics | Modding | Rhetoric

It’s MOOAs, Not MOOCs, That Will Transform Higher Education

The administration at my small school is very productive and effective. I don’t see it showing the kind of bloat that my colleagues at other schools lament. My interest in this satirical piece is cultural, rather than personal.

So if we could find a way to put administration online, to create Massive Online Open Administrations [...]

Business | Cyberculture | Ethics | Media | Rhetoric | Technology

Defend the Open Web: Keep DRM Out of W3C Standards

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The DRM proposals at the W3C exist for a simple reason: they are an attempt to appease Hollywood, which has been angry about the Internet for almost as long as the Web has existed, and has always demanded that it be given elaborate technical infrastructure to control how its audience’s computers function. The perception is [...]

Business | Culture | Essays | Ethics | History | Psychology | Rhetoric | Sociology

Diamonds Are Bullsh*t

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I did propose with a diamond ring, for which I paid a substantial portion of my income, but since I was in grad school at the time, my income was very modest.

The next time you look at a diamond, consider this. Nearly every American marriage begins with a diamond because a bunch of rich [...]

Business | Culture | Current_Events | Cyberculture | Essays | Ethics | Government | Modding | Technology | Usability

Forget the Cellphone Fight — We Should Be Allowed to Unlock Everything We Own

As long as Congress focuses on just unlocking cellphones, they’re missing the larger point. Senators could pass a hundred unlocking bills; five years from now large companies will find some other copyright claim to limit consumer choice. To really solve the problem, Congress must enact meaningful copyright reform. The potential economic benefits are significant, as [...]

Culture | Current_Events | Ethics | Humanities | Journalism | Psychology

The Effect of Tragedy on Journalists

College is already pretty stressful, and journalism culture is not exactly relaxed, either. The psychological strain of trying to do justice to a newsworthy story, while also respecting the suffering of members of your own academic community, while also suffering as a member of that community, is no picnic.

The stereotype of the hard-hitting journalist [...]

Culture | Current_Events | Ethics | Journalism | Media | Rhetoric

CNN Reports On The Promising Future of the Steubenville Rapists, Who Are Very Good Students

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Excellent analysis of the emotional impact when TV journalism shows gripping footage of convicted rapists breaking down in tears while the victim, whose identity is protected by privacy laws, remains anonymous and invisible.

It is unlikely that Candy Crowley and Poppy Harlow are committed rape apologists; more likely they simply wanted a showy, emotional angle [...]

Business | Cyberculture | Design | Ethics | Media | Rhetoric

Fired for Making a Game: The Inside Story of I Get This Call Every Day

He knows that if he’d instead posted a song or a poem or a comedy routine on YouTube, the bosses would have watched that, and might have understood what he was trying to say to them. If he’d created something that told the same story through a more traditional form than a game, he’d probably [...]